Can the Bar Method help low back pain?

If your lower back hurts, you’re one of roughly 31 million Americans sharing this condition at any point in time. The good news is that you have a 90 percent chance of getting better within a month with no treatment at all.

To maximize your chances of becoming pain-free and staying that way, doctors prescribe the following steps:

1. Get your condition diagnosed if you’re experiencing any digestive abnormalities, weakness, numbness or tingling in your legs or if the onset of the pain was triggered by an accident or event.

2. Once you’ve ruled out such complications by seeing a doctor, begin your road to recovery by staying out of bed during the day! Studies have found that bed rest only prolongs the pain. Instead, continue with your normal daily activities. Puttering through your day helps to lessen spasms and keep your joints lubricated.

3. Wait until the pain starts to recede before you exercise.

4. Then, when you’re starting to feel better, resume low-or-non-impact exercise. If you feel increased pain while exercising, either stop completely, or modify the exercise so that you can perform it pain-free.

5. Include stretching in your exercise routine. Lack of exercise will make you less flexible over time, limiting your ability to move, rotate, and bend, thereby making it more likely that you’ll strain something.

6. Practice good posture while standing and sitting.

7. Strengthen your abdominals, and stretch your back, hips and hamstrings. Stronger abs give you increased control over what you do with your busy arms and legs.

How the Bar Method can help:

The Bar Method is based in part on rehabilitative back therapy and has helped countless people to free themselves of back pain. The Bar Method’s exercises work because they “rewire” the connection between the core muscles and the limbs. The standing seat exercise, for example, teaches you to keep your spine stable while using your glutes, thereby teaching your body to move from the hips, not the lower back.

The Bar Method also frees up your lower back muscles by gently stretching them throughout the class.

Back to List of Questions